A Ghost and Machine
by SCP-1440
Summary: What would you do if nobody noticed or remembered you no matter what you did? What would you do if you found someone who could remember? Follow Rallen as he meets the one person in Remnant who can really be his friend. T for language and suggestive themes.


**Alright I'm bored in class again so I figure I'd start another story. If it does well I may transfer it to my main account. This idea has been swirling around in my head for almost a year now but I never got around to writing it out, plus there are practically no stories that are OCxPenny which is a crime against all RWBY fans in my eyes.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any of its characters, nor do I make any profit of any kind off of this story. I do however own any OCs in this story. All credit goes to the respective owners.**

Rallen was going about his usual routine of lying down in the Beacon courtyard staring up at the clouds. Class was currently was going on, though he hadn't actually attended class in a long time. He didn't need to, he already knew every lesson forward and back for all four years, not that any of that mattered. His dreams of ever becoming a Huntsmen had effectively been crush about three years ago when he was involved in an incident that left him in the situation he was in now.

Three years ago Rallen took part in a experiment done by a former teacher at Beacon in order to attempt to improve his semblance, which technically it did, however this wasn't exactly a good thing. Rallen's semblance gave him the ability to go completely unnoticed by anyone around him while active, it didn't turn him invisible, just very difficult to be noticed by anyone, as well as be remembered. The experiment went very wrong when the machine that was being tested exploded killing the teacher and enhancing his semblance in a way that has effectively ruined his life.

His semblance is now permanently active making him completely unable to be noticed without putting great effort into being noticed. Even when he does manage to get someone to notice him, they will immediately forget him and anything he said to them once he's left their direct line of sight. For all intents and purposes he was a ghost, and not just because of the rumors started by students who notice certain things he's done, such as making a noise they can't seem to find the source of even when he's in plain sight.

After the first few months of this he started to get depressed to the point of being suicidal, though quickly grew out of that. Then he tried making the best of his new anonymity and lived out every boys dream and snuck into the girls locker room, though he soon grew board of this as well. By the end of his first year of 'nonexistence' he began to focus on way of staving off boredom, whether it be by reading, training, or simply wandering Vale. This gave him plenty of time to memorize every textbook for every years as well as front row seats to any match in combat class he wished to watch.

He heard a bell ring signaling the end of class, he sat up and watched several student exit the buildings around him and go about their lives, not a single one even glanced at him.

Rallen stood up and stretched his muscles before dusting himself off. He was a tall boy with long silver hair that reached his shoulders and deep blue eyes. He was wearing a white T-shirt with the Beacon symbol on the front, and a pair of baggy and tattered Khakis. His feet were bare, when nobody notices you you stop trying to dress nicely pretty quickly.

"I guess I could head into Vale or something." He said to himself as he began walking towards the airships to Vale. Talking to himself was a habit he had formed after his bout with depression. It didn't take long to find a aircraft that was about to leave for Vale and slip onboard.

Rallen tuned out the chatter of anyone around him as he looked out the window. The ride wasn't long and he soon found himself walking down a random street in downtown Vale. As he walked he noticed he looked at all the decorations for the festival coming soon.

Rallen walked over to a nearby fruit stand and grabbed an apple as he walked. He was hesitant to start stealing at first, but when you figure that nobody will ever feed you or hire you so that you can pay for food, you get over your moral pretty quickly. "Sir, you need to pay for that." A voice came from behind him, but he ignored it and kept walking. When you come to terms with the fact that nobody is ever talking to you, tuning out people becomes second nature.

"Sir, your violating the law." The same voice said and again didn't get a response of any kind as Rallen kept walking. "Sir!" This time something that nearly shatter Rallen's reality happened, the person grabbed his hand and stopped him from walking further.

Rallen turned to the person holding his hand with wide eyes and open mouth as the apple in his hand fell to the ground completely forgotten. Rallen looked at the person, who was a teenage girl with orange hair and wearing a bow on her head. She also wore a grey and green dress with black and green stockings. "Sir, you did not pay for that apple." She said pointing to the fruit on the ground, however Rallen just continued to stare at her.

"You noticed me?" He mumbled just loud enough for her to hear.

"Of course I did." She said in a rather chipper tone.

Rallen stood very still as he looked at the girl in front of him. Moments later he chuckled lightly before fainting and falling to the ground.

 **An hour later**

Rallen began to regain his consciousness and felt grass under himself, he figured he must have fallen asleep in the courtyard at Beacon. "It was just a dream." He said as he chuckled lightly.

"Your awake!" A voice said causing his eyes to shoot open. He found himself lying in the grass under a tree in the Vale park. His head was resting on something soft yet firm. he sat up quickly a saw the girl from earlier sitting next to him, his head had apparently been lying on her lap. "I apologize for scaring you earlier, I had no idea that you would faint." She said with a sad look.

"You can actually notice me, and remember me?" He said as he sat down and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" The girl asked tilting her head.

Rallen was stunned as his eyes began to water, he hung his head down as his body began to shake slightly, tears could be seen falling from his face to the ground. Soon he began sobbing openly, then he felt something touch his shoulder.

The girl was frowning. "I'm so sorry if I hurt your feelings, please don't cry." She said genuinely sounding sad.

Rallen looked up at the girl with a smile on his face and tears still falling as he then pulled her into a firm hug. "Its okay, I'm just so happy." He said choking out a laughed as he hugged her. "Someone can remember me." He said releasing the girl.

"Are you okay?" She asked very confused about what was happening.

Rallen smiled widely. "I'm better than okay, this is the best moment of my life! Whats your name?" He asked the girl who quickly regained her smile.

"I'm Penny!" She answered in her usual up beat tone.

"It's so great to meet you Penny, I'm Rallen. Would you like to be friends?" This made the girls eyes widen and look filled with joy.

"I would love to be friends!" She shouted happily. "Though I am wondering something." She said in a still very happy tone. "You seemed very surprised when I confirmed I noticed you, why is that?"

Rallen wiped the tears from his eyes. "Well Penny, it all happened a few years ago."

 **Several hours later**

Rallen and Penny had spent the past few hours just talking and getting to know each other, Rallen had a lot of questions about Penny but decided to just let them go for now and enjoy the fact that there was someone who he could actually talk to. He had explained his 'condition' to her, which she was able to grasp after a bit of explaining.

Penny was very sympathetic to him and had done her best to reassure him that everything would be okay. In all honesty Rallen had never felt happier to talk to someone in his entire life, every word out of her mouth he treasured as though he'd never hear another thing again.

"So Penny, any idea why you can notice me?" He asked, not really thinking about it.

Penny seemed to lose some of her pep, when he did. "Well,uh, I think I know, but it's suppose to be a secret." Rallen noticed that she seemed a bit down.

"You don't have to tell me if you can't, I don't mean to pry." He said desperately trying to make sure he didn't upset her.

"No, it's fine." She looked around a bit. "Can you keep a secret?" She asked him causing him to take on a blank look. Penny then realized that he couldn't tell anyone if he wanted because of his problem. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-"

Rallen started laughing at the girls reaction making her stop fretting. "It's fine Penny. I promise even if I could, I would never tell a soul." He reassured the girl.

She smiled and nodded. "Rallen, I'm not really a person. I'm the world first synthetic intelligence capable of generating an aura. I think the reason why I can notice and remember you is because my memory is different from normal people, and I can see you because I perceive things differently as well. I'm not a real girl." She sounded rather sad at that last part.

Rallen put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a loose hug. "Penny, I don't care if you a robot, human, faunus, or talking grimm who can only speak in clicks. You are now my new best friend and thats all I care about. Also, don't ever say your not a person, because you are. You get happy and sad, you laugh and cry. You even have a habit of hiccuping when you lie, Penny you have a soul. Synthetic or organic, you are just as much of a person as anyone else, don't ever let someone tell you differently." By this point Penny had tears in her eyes that were beginning to roll down her cheeks.

She raised her hand and touched one of the streams of tears. "I didn't know I was able to cry." She said as she smiled. "Thank you Rallen." She then pulled him into a strong hug which caused him to begin gasping for air, though Penny was oblivious to this. "Say, would you like to come back and meet Mr. Ironwood? I have an idea that may help you!" She said excitedly.

Rallen rubbed his sides after she let him go. "Sure thing Penny, I'll follow you wherever." With that the two began to make their way out of the park with Penny leading. "Wait, Ironwood the general?"

 **Alright there we go, if this does well I'm willing to move it to my main account and make it a regular thing so tell me what you all think. Also this will mostly be a fluff story with little action so I'm sorry if thats not your thing. Tell me what you all thought in the reviews.**


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